What a trip to Bhutan really costs
What a week, a trek and a luxury week really cost in Bhutan, from the USD 100 nightly fee down to tips, SIM cards and hot stone baths.
On this page
- Can Bhutan be done on a backpacker budget?
- The Sustainable Development Fee: USD 100 per person, per night
- What a daily package rate covers, and what it leaves out
- Flights to Paro, the visa fee and the 5% GST
- Extras worth a line in your budget
- Three worked budgets
- Honest ways to spend less
- Cash, cards and the ngultrum
- Tell us your dates and we will price it
A week in Bhutan costs roughly USD 3,100 to USD 3,900 per person once flights, the nightly government fee, hotels, guide, driver and tips are all in. Here is where each part of that goes, with three worked budgets at the end.
Can Bhutan be done on a backpacker budget?
No, and that is deliberate. The Tourism Levy Act, passed by the National Assembly on 20 June 2022, scrapped the old Minimum Daily Package Rate and replaced it with a single government charge, the Sustainable Development Fee. That money goes to the state. You pay us separately for the trip itself.
The fee puts a floor under every trip, and it has not emptied the country. Bhutan took 209,376 visitors in 2025, up 44 percent on 2024, and USD 43.31 million of that came in as SDF revenue.
The Sustainable Development Fee: USD 100 per person, per night
The SDF is USD 100 per person, per night for every nationality except Indian. It is charged per night, so your arrival night counts and your departure day does not. Seven nights is USD 700, not USD 800.
Children pay less. Under-6s are exempt, 6 to 11 year olds pay USD 50 a night, and the full USD 100 starts on the twelfth birthday.
The USD 100 rate is a 50 percent concession on the statutory USD 200 fee. It took effect on 1 September 2023 and is confirmed only to 31 August 2027, after which the government may let it lapse. We quote the rate that applies to your dates, never one we hope will still be there. Our Sustainable Development Fee guide has the detail.
Cancel or shorten a trip and the Department of Immigration (opens in a new tab) refunds the SDF for nights you did not use, including when you leave early, less bank charges.
Regional rates differ:
- India: Nu. 1,200 per person per night, Nu. 600 for children aged 6 to 11.
- Bangladesh and the Maldives: USD 15 or Nu. 1,200 per person per day, limited to the first 15,000 such travellers.
What a daily package rate covers, and what it leaves out
Our daily rate covers your hotel, all meals, a licensed English-speaking guide, a driver and private vehicle, permits and monument entry fees. At the time of writing Taktsang costs Nu. 1,000 to enter, most dzongs and museums Nu. 500 and the Buddha Dordenma Nu. 300; we absorb those.
You are no longer obliged to book through a Bhutanese operator at all. A licensed guide is still mandatory outside Paro and Thimphu, at dzongs and sacred sites and on every trek, and guiding plus permits alone runs USD 30 to USD 40 a day.
What the market looks like for 2026, per person per night, SDF included:
| Hotel class | All-in per person, per night |
|---|---|
| 3-star standard | USD 350–400 |
| 4-star deluxe | USD 400–800 |
| 5-star luxury | USD 800–2,000 |
Take the SDF out and the land portion is typically USD 150 to USD 250 a day, moving with season, group size and hotel class. A quote for four people is not a quote for two.
Not covered: international flights, the visa fee, tips, alcohol, laundry, spa treatments and souvenirs.
Flights to Paro, the visa fee and the 5% GST
Only two airlines land at Paro: Drukair (opens in a new tab) and Bhutan Airlines (opens in a new tab). Drukair flies Bangkok, Kolkata and Kathmandu daily, Delhi five times a week, Dhaka and Guwahati three times, Singapore and Dubai twice. For 2026, return economy runs roughly USD 460 to USD 770 from Bangkok and around USD 650 to USD 675 from Delhi for non-Indian passport holders.
Fares are effectively fixed rather than dynamically priced. Booking early buys a seat, not a discount, and around the big festival dates the seat is the scarce thing. More in getting to Bhutan.
The visa costs USD 40 per person, once, and is not refundable. Applications are reviewed within five working days and we file yours; see visa and permits. Travel insurance stopped being a visa condition on 23 April 2024, and we still tell you to buy it.
Bhutan introduced a 5 percent Goods and Services Tax on 1 January 2026. It applies to hotels, guiding, in-country transport, meals and activities, so it is already inside the price we quote. The SDF and the visa fee sit outside it. Drukair applies it to its own services too, which nudged fares up.
Extras worth a line in your budget
- Tips. For one or two travellers, USD 8 to USD 10 per person per day for the guide and USD 5 to USD 7 for the driver; in a group of three to eight, USD 6 to USD 8 and USD 3 to USD 5. Hand them over on your last afternoon, in dollars or ngultrum.
- Hot stone bath. USD 20 to USD 30 per person, and worth it the evening after Taktsang.
- Drinks and meals outside the package. A Druk 11000 beer is Nu. 100 to Nu. 200 in a local restaurant and Nu. 200 or more in a hotel; a meal out is Nu. 200 to Nu. 500, roughly USD 2 to USD 6.
- SIM card. Nu. 100 from B-Mobile or Nu. 200 from TashiCell, each loaded with the same value in talk time. A 2.5 GB bundle with 50 minutes starts around Nu. 300, sold at Paro airport.
Three worked budgets
Per person, two of you sharing a guide and vehicle.
Seven nights, 3-star hotels, flying from Bangkok
| Item | USD |
|---|---|
| SDF, 7 nights at USD 100 | 700 |
| Land costs, 7 nights 3-star (hotel, meals, guide, driver, vehicle, entries, GST) | 1,750–2,100 |
| Return flight Bangkok–Paro | 460–770 |
| Visa fee | 40 |
| Tips, 7 days | 91–119 |
| Drinks, laundry, SIM, gifts | 50–150 |
| Total | 3,091–3,879 |
That is the shape of most of our cultural tours.
Ten days with the Jomolhari trek
| Item | USD |
|---|---|
| Guided Jomolhari trek, about 7 days and 102 km (SDF and visa fee included) | 2,965–5,959 |
| Two extra nights in Paro and Thimphu, 3-star, SDF included | 700–800 |
| Return flight Bangkok–Paro | 460–770 |
| Riding pony, 4 days at USD 30 | 0–120 |
| Tips, 9 days | 81–153 |
| Hot stone bath and other extras | 70–180 |
| Total | 4,276–7,982 |
The 25 to 30 day Snowman Trek is another order of expense: USD 9,000 to USD 12,000 per person. See trekking in Bhutan and our trekking tours.
A luxury week
| Item | USD |
|---|---|
| All-inclusive 5-star, 7 nights at USD 800–2,000 (SDF included) | 5,600–14,000 |
| Return flight Bangkok–Paro | 460–770 |
| Visa fee | 40 |
| Tips, 7 days | 91–119 |
| Hot stone baths, drinks, gifts | 100–300 |
| Total | 6,291–15,229 |
Amankora runs about USD 1,400 to USD 2,200 a lodge night and Six Senses roughly USD 1,820 to USD 2,395, with the SDF on top of both. Our luxury tours start from those rates.
Honest ways to spend less
- Travel outside the two peaks. March to May and September to November are the busy months, and May 2026 alone brought 47,343 arrivals. Our land rates are lowest June to August and December to February, though the SDF does not change. See best time to visit.
- Bring more people. Group size moves the per-person land rate, and tips drop from USD 13–17 a day to USD 9–13.
- Cut a night, not a day. The SDF is nightly, so five nights instead of seven is USD 200 less before anything else moves.
- Take the Bhutanese-run 3-star hotels. The guide, the driver and the dzongs are the same ones. Only the pillow changes.
- Do not wait for a flight sale. There is not one.
Cash, cards and the ngultrum
The ngultrum is pegged one to one with the Indian rupee, and at the time of writing that put it around Nu. 95 to Nu. 96 to the US dollar.
Cards work at the better hotels, restaurants and handicraft shops in Thimphu and Paro, usually with a 3 to 7 percent surcharge. ATMs cluster in Thimphu, Paro and Phuentsholing, and Bhutan National Bank machines take Visa, JCB, UnionPay and RuPay. Everywhere else is cash, so bring dollars for tips. Money and currency has more.
Tell us your dates and we will price it
Every figure here is a range because season, group size and hotel class pull on it. Send us your dates, your numbers and roughly where you want to sleep, and we will come back with a line-by-line quote: SDF, land costs, flights, and what is not included. Start with our tours, or write to us and we will work from your dates.
